Site Mobile Navigation

Network Feels the Wrath of a Blogger Misled

ESPN learned last week that, to tweak the adage, hell hath no fury like a blogger scorned.

The fury in this case belongs to A. J. Daulerio, editor of Deadspin.com, a sports blog, who contends that ESPN misled him about sexual impropriety by Steve Phillips, one of the sports network’s on-the-air analysts. Mr. Phillips was fired on Sunday.

Last week, Mr. Daulerio posted on Deadspin rumors of sexual liaisons and harassment involving several other ESPN employees, some of whom are married to other people, along with headlines linking ESPN to phrases like “sexual depravity.”

In an account of his dealings with ESPN, Mr. Daulerio wrote last week, “well, it’s probably about time to just unload the in-box of all the sordid rumors we’ve received over the years about various ESPN employees.”

Even in the free-for-all of the Internet, this was a bracing position for a well-known site that, according to Quantcast, gets more than 150,000 visitors daily. Mainstream journalistic standards frown on that kind of publication-as-retaliation and on delving into people’s sex lives without some compelling, larger reason.

Mr. Daulerio wrote that he called ESPN on Sept. 9 to ask about a rumor that Mr. Phillips was to be fired the next day “for an offense on par with” that of Harold Reynolds, a former analyst; Mr. Daulerio said ESPN’s public relations department told him the rumor was wrong. (ESPN fired Mr. Reynolds in 2006, reportedly over allegations of harassment. He later sued the network, however, and ESPN settled with him.) Mr. Daulerio added that he responded by asking what was really happening with Mr. Phillips, and was told that there was nothing to report.

Six weeks later, the story broke that prompted Mr. Daulerio’s campaign against the network: Mr. Phillips had acknowledged having an affair with a young production assistant. ESPN said at the time that he had been disciplined — it did not elaborate — and that he had taken a voluntary leave of absence.

Mr. Daulerio contends that he had a larger reason for pursuing the story on Mr. Phillips: ESPN was inconsistent about punishing misconduct (though it was arguable whether his own reporting demonstrated such inconsistency). And in an interview, he noted that Deadspin is owned by Gawker Media, whose often outrageous Gawker.com media gossip site is, itself, fond of combining tough reporting with salacious rumor.

“Obviously, I take a different approach to this than a normal, regular, mainstream publication would,” said Mr. Daulerio, 35, who had years of experience at such publications before joining Deadspin two years ago. “Do I bend the rules a little bit? Of course I do. We’re still a blog at the end of the day, a Gawker Media blog. The larger truth out of this, outside of my temper tantrum over getting scooped out of a story, is that this is the worst-kept secret in sports media.”

ESPN declined to comment on that situation beyond a statement that said: “Deadspin’s self-admitted rumormongering is despicable behavior by any standard and shows callous disregard for its impact on people’s lives. It is not worthy of response and those responsible should be called to account.”

In his initial posting on the topic, Mr. Daulerio suggested less-than-scrupulous concern for the accuracy of the rumors he repeated: “Chances are, at this point, there’s some truth to them,” he wrote. “We’ll just throw ’em out there” and wait for the reactions. But in the interview, he said he adhered to the same standard of proof as any traditional news organization, repeating only those things told to him by multiple sources with close knowledge of the subject.

He and Nick Denton, owner of Gawker Media, said the larger issue was sources being dishonest with journalists. “When an unnamed source misleads, as far as we’re concerned, they lose the right to remain in the shadows,” Mr. Denton said in an e-mail exchange.

A version of this article appears in print on October 26, 2009, on page B6 of the New York edition with the headline: Network Feels the Wrath Of a Blogger Upset. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe